BOSTON, USA (December 2, 2021) — Timeshifter Inc. – the circadian technology pioneer – today announced at the Global Wellness Summit a partnership with Axiom Space, a leader in human spaceflight and human-rated space infrastructure, to help Axiom optimize the safety and performance of its astronauts and mission controllers as they build the world’s first commercial space station.
Timeshifter will provide astronauts and mission controllers with sleep and circadian plans to reduce jet lag when traveling on Earth, optimize shift work performance in mission control, and prepare for rocket launches. Through this partnership, Timeshifter will also advise Axiom on the lighting environment and sleep cabin design for the new space station.
Most people are aware of the importance of sleep (the sleep economy has reached nearly $500 billion per year). However, our circadian system is less understood, even though it controls sleep and almost every biological system in our bodies – including the heart, metabolism, and reproductive and immune functions – with significant implications for our performance and our health. This partnership will put an important spotlight on the entire circadian field, and help Timeshifter develop new features and products to help people back on Earth live their best and most productive lives.
Axiom Space exists to create a thriving home in space that benefits every human, everywhere. When the International Space Station is decommissioned, its partner nations plan to rely on private companies to advance the frontiers of human habitation and discovery in low-Earth orbit. Axiom, whose leadership played key roles in the ISS’ design, development, assembly, and operation, is taking on this challenge by driving expanded commercial utilization of the ISS today while currently constructing a privately owned and operated successor that will host astronauts, private organizations, and space agencies. The first step on this roadmap is Axiom's Ax-1, the first-ever private mission to the International Space Station scheduled for launch on February 21, 2022, which will bring a crew of four Axiom private astronauts to conduct 100 hours of research experiments in partnership with a host of organizations on the ground.
Timeshifter has built the world’s first technology platform for optimizing performance, safety, and health using circadian science. This gives Timeshifter the unique ability to solve several universal and impactful problems. Timeshifter has already developed a solution for jet lag with its app launched in 2018 – now the most-downloaded and highest-rated jet lag app in the world. It has also just released a new app to help shift workers manage their sleep, alertness, health, and quality of life. Globally, around 700 million people are shift workers, often changing schedules so frequently that most never adapt, living in a circadian no-man’s land, stuck between home and work lives.
Timeshifter has also begun strategic work in the field of chronotherapeutics, and aims to use circadian time to help patients time their medication better, based on their internal circadian time, or reset their clocks to prepare for medical treatments to improve clinical outcomes and reduce side-effects.
“Our team has designed sleep and circadian plans for space agencies, Formula 1 teams, and Olympic athletes for more than a decade. We are thrilled to now bring this expertise to human spaceflight leader Axiom Space to help optimize the safety and performance of their astronauts and mission controllers. This partnership continues Timeshifter’s momentum as the leader in circadian technology, and further raises awareness of the entire circadian field.”
“We have convened an elite collection of expertise at Axiom to build and operate the world’s first commercial space station, and Timeshifter fits right into that mold as a partner. Circadian science has been a critical part of enhancing safety and performance for both astronauts and mission controllers on past space missions. The partnership with Timeshifter will bring those capabilities to Axiom’s operations, but will also include research to help people back on Earth live so they can perform at their best, and live longer and healthier lives.”
“As we learn more about circadian rhythms, their importance in maintaining our performance, health, and well-being is becoming increasingly clear. Not long into the future, measuring and accounting for the differences in our individual circadian rhythms will become commonplace in all aspects of our lives, from when to sleep and exercise, and what and when to eat, to the interpretation of blood tests or when to take medications.”
NOTE TO EDITORS
Presskit: www.timeshifter.com/news
About Axiom Space:
Axiom Space is guided by the vision of a thriving home in space that benefits every human, everywhere. The leading provider of human spaceflight services and developer of human-rated space infrastructure, Axiom operates end-to-end missions to the International Space Station today while privately building its successor – a permanent commercial destination in Earth’s orbit that will sustain human growth off the planet and bring untold benefits back home. For more information, visit www.axiomspace.com
About Timeshifter:
Timeshifter is the world’s most advanced circadian technology platform, designed to improve human performance, safety and health. Timeshifter translates complex circadian science into breakthrough solutions, including the most-downloaded and highest-rated jet lag app and a revolutionary app to empower shift workers to adapt to changing schedules. Timeshifter has received several awards, including the National Sleep Foundation's SleepTech® Award, Health Magazine's Sleep Award, and Fast Company's World Changing Ideas. For more information, visit www.timeshifter.com
About Steven W. Lockley, Ph.D.:
Dr. Steven Lockley is a Neuroscientist in the Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Sleep Medicine, Harvard Medical School. He is also a Professor and VC Fellow at the Surrey Sleep Research Centre, University of Surrey in the UK, and an Affiliated Faculty member of the Center for Health and the Global Environment, Harvard School of Public Health. He received his B.Sc. (Hons) in Biology from the University of Manchester, UK in 1992 and a PhD in Biological Sciences from the University of Surrey, UK in 1997. With over 25 years of research experience in circadian rhythm and sleep, Dr. Lockley is a specialist in ways to reset the circadian clock, particularly the role of light and melatonin. He has studied the effects of light on the circadian pacemaker extensively including the role of light wavelength, timing, duration and pattern. This work has led to development of ‘smart’ lighting applications designed to improve alertness, safety and productivity, translation of the physiological effects of light into architecture and design, and light therapies for several clinical disorders. Dr. Lockley has also studied the impact of circadian disruption, long work hours, sleepiness and sleep disorders on performance and health in occupational groups, including doctors, police and firefighters, and has led several workplace interventions that have reduced workplace errors and injury. He also advises NASA on how to alleviate jet lag for astronauts traveling the globe and how to reduce the problems associated with shift work at NASA Mission Control. Dr. Lockley has published more than 180 original reports, reviews, chapters and editorials on circadian rhythms and sleep and his research is funded by NASA and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) among others. He has won a number of awards including the NASA Johnston Space Center Director's Innovation Team Award (as part of the ISS Flexible Lighting Team). He co-edited the first textbook on sleep and health ‘Sleep, health and society: From Aetiology to Public Health’ and co-authored ‘Sleep: A Very Short Introduction’ from Oxford University Press. For more information, visit Dr. Lockley’s Harvard faculty profile